Tales of Mundane Magic: Volume One

By Shaina Krevat

Nothing too strange ever happens to Gertie and Bridget Mallon.

The sisters don't have magical adventures fighting off dark lords or saving the world. Gertie spends her time learning the skill of enchantment, and Bridget has the ability to see things no one else can see with her left eye, which was bewitched in an accident many years ag

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shaina Krevat
• Release date: Mar 7, 2020
• ISBN: 9781732501324

Shaina Krevat

Shaina Krevat's other job is a Software Engineer at YouTube, which is kind of her dream. She graduated from UC Berkeley with a BA in Computer Science, several best friends, and five full-length novels that she put on indefinite hiatus. In her free time, she cooks, tries to teach her dog Atlas how to sit on command, posts writing advice, and wonders if she'll ever figure out how to get Link to walk in a straight line in Breath of the Wild. She lives in Los Angeles with Atlas and her partner James, where they work on their respective creative endeavors and puzzles. You can follow her @shainakrevat, visit her websites www.shainakrevat.com and www.talesofmundanemagic.com, and purchase her first book anywhere books are sold.

Book preview

TALES OF MUNDANE MAGIC

Volume One

Shaina Krevat

TALES OF MUNDANE MAGIC

A Shaina Krevat book

Copyright ⓒ 2018 by Shaina Krevat

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-7325013-0-0

P.O. Box 5901, Santa Monica, CA 90409

talesofmundanemagic.com

Cover illustration by Gloria Kang.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

To my loving parents,

who have always supported my creativity

GERTIE AND BRIDGET BUILD A SNOWMAN

AS SNOWFLAKES DANCED down from thick clouds, Ziggy the ghost dog had fun trying to catch them on his tongue. Since his mouth was incorporeal, the challenge was dead on arrival, but that didn’t hinder his joy.

Bridget Mallon, one of Ziggy’s owners during his life, was bundled up against the chill. She was thrilled about the first snow of the season. With first semester finals fast approaching at Flories Boarding School, it was nice to take an afternoon off from studying.

While Bridget admired how pretty the school looked draped in snow and ice, her older sister Gertie, wrapped in layers and topped with a black magician’s hat, packed together a snowball in her hands.

Bridget turned to see how her sister was faring.

Well? she asked.

It’s good, Gertie said, tossing the snowball back and forth between her hands. Not too wet, not too dry-

She missed the ball, and it fell to the ground.

Ziggy, barking in delight, flew under the snowball to try to catch it. His attempt was, again, in vain, but he shook out his wispy fur, looked up at Gertie with his tongue hanging out, and waited with a wagging tail for the next throw.

Gertie, unfortunately, couldn’t see him at the moment. As Ziggy was a ghost, he was invisible to most living beings. Bridget, on the other hand, could still see him. Her left eye had been ruined in an accident many years ago, but because of this, it was imbued with magic, allowing her to see many things that normal eyes shouldn’t. Including ghosts.

Normally, Gertie wore an enchanted baseball cap that allowed her to see Ziggy, but as it didn’t allow for much warmth, it was currently stuffed in one of her jacket pockets. Another one of her many hats - this one a beanie - was pulled over her ears, under the top hat that didn’t keep out the chill.

Snowman time! Bridget said, bouncing on her toes.

Gertie grinned. Okay, so I have a hat, she tipped the top hat. You have a nose…

Bridget held up the large carrot she had been keeping in her pocket.

Did you bring sticks and rocks? Gertie asked.

Uh, Bridget said, looking on the ground beneath them. I’ll go look for arm sticks in the woods.

I’ll find some pebbles, Gertie said. Meet back here?

Bridget nodded.

The two sisters went off. Ziggy followed Gertie, hoping for another throw of a snowball.

Bridget wandered into the sprinkling of trees at the edge of Flories Boarding School’s property. If she had kept going, and managed to circumvent the magical wall that protected the school, the trees would get taller, and thicker, and evolve into the dark woods, where creatures and magic of old histories still survived.

But not too far into the woods, she found a good sized tree branch on the ground, and then another, so she stopped to pick them up.

She was about to head back to the rendezvous point, but out of the corner of her left eye - the eye that could see things normal eyes couldn’t - Bridget saw a shimmer. She turned, and could barely make out an enchanted lump in what looked like a naturally occurring hollow in the snow. Curious, she put down her sticks slowly, not wanting to startle whatever it was, and kneeled low to the ground. When she saw no movement under the enchantment, Bridget started creeping towards what seemed to be an animal lying under an invisibility spell.

But before Bridget could get much closer, a reindog blocked her path, shaking off its conjured camouflage that had made it sparkle like ice.

Bridget had heard of reindogs before, but had never seen one up close. They were able to conceal themselves to magical levels, blending in seamlessly with their surroundings unless they moved. The reindogs looked like slim canines, with longer legs and snouts and short fluffy tails. Both males and females had horns that curled around their floppy triangular ears, and their fur changed color with the weather. The reindog standing in front of Bridget had fur that was mostly white and grey with some remaining brown patches.

Its eyes seemed soft and begging as it snuffed at Bridget’s jacket.

Bridget realized what it must have been smelling. She reached in and pulled the carrot from her pocket.

The reindog took a big bite, making the tip of the carrot poke visibly into its cheek, and went back toward the enchanted spot in the snow. Bridget followed it, and saw that there was a burrow that held another adult reindog curled up around two puppies. The youngsters almost looked like normal dogs if not for the gangliness of their legs and their stubs of tails, and sat up mewling as their parent approached.

Bridget watched with a smile as the reindog spat out the carrot for them to eat. The puppies began fighting over it, nibbling what bites they could. Satisfied with her discovery, Bridget picked up the branches and headed back to the snowman.

Nice arms, Gertie said with a grin. The two lower balls of snow were done, and she was working on the third.

You’ll never guess what I saw! Bridget said, her nose red and eyes sparkling.

Gertie held back a laugh at her sister’s enthusiasm, hefting up the last snowball to place for the snowman’s head. Flying fish? she joked.

Bridget laughed. No-.

Hold on, Gertie said, plopping the snowball on the snowman’s body. She placed the small stones she had found as eyes, mouth, and buttons and Bridget stuck the stick arms in place.

Nose? Gertie asked. Bridget pulled out the stump of the carrot that the reindog had left.

What happened to it? Gertie asked.

Bridget seemed ready burst. I fed it to a reindog!

Gertie’s eyes opened wide in wonder. Lucky! she said. Much better than flying fish!

Bridget stuck the mangled carrot nose into the snowman’s face